Real-time bidding (“RTB”) is an approach for buying and selling advertising impressions one impression at a time. As used herein, an impression is when a particular browser loads an advertisement. For example, if a user loads a web site containing an advertisement with a browser application, such a loading of the web site is one impression of the advertisement.
When selling impressions, a seller (e.g., a publisher) can contact a real-time bidding exchange system (“exchange system”) with an offer to sell one or more impressions on a particular uniform resource locator (“URL”). The seller can include various metadata about the URL, which can include traffic data, content on the site located at the URL, etc. A user can load a web site using a browser application, where the code for the web site can include instructions to place an advertisement at a particular location within the web site. The instructions can direct the browser to contact one or more exchange systems and request an advertisement to be rendered at the particular location in the browser window. The exchange system can then send a request for advertisers to bid on the impression or advertising opportunity offered by the seller. In some cases, the request can include an anonymous label rather than the URL where the impression is available, and can also include metadata passed from the seller to the exchange system. These anonymous labels can be used to represent blind inventory.
The use of blind inventory can help publishers avoid sales channel conflicts between the publisher's direct advertisement sales and real-time bidding advertisement sales. For example, if an advertiser wants to place an advertisement on example.com directly, the publisher of example.com charges the advertiser a premium and does not want the advertiser to be able to go to an exchange system and place advertisements directly on example.com for a lesser amount. Blind inventory allows the publisher to sell advertising not sold through direct channels (e.g., remnants), for a less than premium amount while preventing advertisers that would otherwise buy direct advertisements from going around the publisher and buying direct advertisements for cheaper prices on an exchange system.
However, if the buyer does not have confidence in the metadata provided by the seller or if there is little information about the URL where the impression will be placed, the buyer may offer a lower price for the impression. Buyers may also be wary of bidding on an impression without knowing more about the site where the impression is going to be placed. Advertisers may also wish to verify that the impression was actually placed on the URL having the metadata passed from the seller, which is normally impractical in a blind URL system. There is, therefore, a need in the art for approaches that enhance buyer confidence in impressions sold on exchange systems.